Two computational social science types I know were recently discussing why restaurant cutlery is sometimes magnetized. One recounted an incident in which he asked the waitstaff, and they said it was due to a cutlery catcher magnet in the dishwasher. Do a Web search and you will see that many people have the same suspicion. And while you’re on the Web, do a search on cutlery catcher magnets. They are usually mounted on commercial kitchen trash can lids.

We think this common explanation is wrong. The average piece of flatware just doesn’t come into contact with the catcher magnet with enough frequency or friction to magnetize it.

Here’s our theory.

Our first job was as a short-order cook at a country club. Our utensils were magnetized. We noticed we had a ball burnishing machine in the kitchen they would dump the cutlery in, like this: